Protocell News and Research

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Formed from the aggregation of abiotic components, protocells are the precursors to modern living cells. Despite being non-living, protocells display characteristics akin to biological cells.

New way of reprogramming immune cells shown to work in melanoma

A new way of reprogramming our immune cells to shrink or kill off cancer cells has been shown to work in the otherwise hard-to-treat and devastating skin cancer, melanoma.

31 Oct 2022

Scientists harness the potential of bacteria to help create synthetic cells with lifelike functionality

Scientists have harnessed the potential of bacteria to help build advanced synthetic cells which mimic real life functionality.

14 Sep 2022

Temperature variations could have driven the division of protocells

A simple mechanism could underlie the growth and self-replication of protocells-;putative ancestors of modern living cells-;suggests a study publishing September 3 in Biophysical Journal.

4 Sep 2021

New study sheds light on specialized compartments exhibited by Earth's single-celled ancestors

Scientists have long speculated about the features that our long-ago single-celled ancestors might have had, and the order in which those features came about. Bubble-like compartments are a hallmark of the superkingdom to which we, and many other species including yeast, belong.

25 Feb 2021

Researchers prepare synthetic protocells that pump up blood vessels

An international team comprising researchers from the University of Bristol, and Hunan and Central South Universities in China, have prepared biocompatible protocells that generate nitric oxide gas – a known reagent for blood vessel dilation - that when placed inside blood vessels expand the biological tissue.

23 Nov 2020

New method to create artificial cells that are active and mimic living cells

Protocells - artificial cells - that are active and mimic living cells by moving independently and that are biocompatible and enzymatically active are now possible using an improved method developed by Penn State researchers.

9 Dec 2019

Directional control of protocell's movement could lead to precision drug delivery

Synthetic protocells can be made to move toward and away from chemical signals, an important step for the development of new drug-delivery systems that could target specific locations in the body.

18 Nov 2019

Scientists create synthetic tissue capable of synchronized beating

A team of chemists at the University of Bristol have developed a prototissue that is capable of synchronized beating when it is heated and cooled.

16 Oct 2018

Chemical signals influence guest-host protocell interactions

Resident artificial cells shown to leave their protocell hosts when triggered by a chemical signal that causes them to behave antagonistically.

7 Sep 2018

Researchers create ‘protocells’ for delivering drugs to deepest tumor regions

Despite herculean efforts, cancer remains a formidable disease, with each malignant subtype responding differently to therapeutics.

11 Jan 2018

Homeostasis may have allowed first living cells to maintain internal environment

A Massachusetts General Hospital research team investigating how the earliest stages of life might have developed has discovered a way the first living cells could have met a key challenge -- maintaining a constant internal environment, a process called homeostasis, even when external conditions change.

17 Mar 2016

Oncothyreon acquires Alpine Biosciences to enable targeted delivery of multiple therapeutic agents

Oncothyreon Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer, today announced that it has acquired Alpine Biosciences, Inc., of Seattle, Washington, a privately held biotechnology company developing protocells, a nanoparticle platform technology designed to enable the targeted delivery of multiple therapeutic agents, including nucleic acids, proteins, peptides and small molecules.

12 Aug 2014